Last update:
02/25/2008
Bar Harbor Brass Faculty
Blair Bollinger, Music Director
Blair Bollinger enjoys a varied musical career as a
trombonist, a conductor and a teacher. He is the Bass Trombonist of the
Philadelphia Orchestra. He joined Orchestra in 1986 at the invitation of
Music Director Riccardo Muti and plays the full Orchestra schedule of
more than 160 concerts each year along with many recordings and
international tours. As a soloist, Mr. Bollinger has performed
with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony
of Taiwan and others. He has been a guest artist at many international
and domestic trombone conferences. Mr. Bollinger has performed recitals
and given master classes in Brazil, Chile, China, Holland, Israel,
Japan, Poland, Taiwan and throughout the United States. As a student, he
won the 1986 Philadelphia Orchestra Senior Student Competition, and
remains the only trombonist to win this competition since it began in
1934 as well as the only bass trombone soloist ever with the
Philadelphia Orchestra. His recordings include a solo disc, “Fancy
Free”, for d’Note Records, hailed by American Record Guide as “The
recording I’ve been waiting for ... an amazing display of Bollinger’s
virtuoso skills.” Other recordings are 2 discs with his trombone quartet
"Four of a Kind" and a Gabrieli disc with the Canadian Brass. With “Four
of a Kind”, Mr. Bollinger has toured Japan and been featured in several
trombone conferences. His arrangements of music for trombone are
published by Ensemble Publications in New York and Alphonse Leduc in
Paris. Mr. Bollinger is a frequent guest conductor with the
Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and leads the Curtis Brass and
Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Bollinger also has conducted concerts with his
daughter, Robyn, as a violin soloist both in Philadelphia and with the
DeKalb (GA) Symphony. A 1986 graduate of the Curtis Institute of
Music, he studied with Charles Vernon and Glenn Dodson. Mr. Bollinger is
now on faculty at Curtis and Temple University. In addition to teaching
private lessons, he conducts and coaches chamber music. He has spent
recent summers performing and teaching in the Grand Teton Music Festival
in Wyoming and the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina.
Chris Martin, Trumpet
Christopher Martin, originally from
Marietta, Georgia, joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trumpet
in 2005. He was Principal Trumpet of the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra the from 2001-2005, after three years as Associate Principal Trumpet of The Philadelphia
Orchestra. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman
School of Music in 1997 under the trumpet instruction of professors
Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler. Prior to joining The Philadelphia
Orchestra in October 1997, Mr. Martin was also offered the Principal
Trumpet position with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr.
Martin has been an Affiliate Professor of Trumpet at at Emory
University in Atlanta and Temple University
in Philadelphia, and gives master classes at music conservatories and
colleges around the nation, including the Manhattan School of Music.
He has performed as Principal Trumpet with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
Mr. Martin, a native of Marietta, Georgia, comes from a musical family.
His father, Freddy Martin, is a band director for a prestigious Georgia
private school, and his mother, Lynda Martin, sings in the Atlanta
Symphony Chorus. While a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth
Orchestra, Mr. Martin trained with then-Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
trumpeter Larry Black. He later received his bachelor’s degree in
trumpet performance in 1997 from the Eastman School of Music in
Rochester, New York, where his primary teachers were Charles Geyer and
Barbara Butler. As Principal Trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra, he can be heard on a number of recent recordings, including
the ASO’s 2003 Grammy Award-winning recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams'
A Sea Symphony conducted by Robert Spano.
Adam Unsworth, Horn
Adam Unsworth joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as Fourth Horn in September of 1998. Prior to his appointment in Philadelphia, he spent three years as Second Horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Unsworth received his formal training at Northwestern University, where he studied with former Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Norman Schweikert and Gail Williams, and completed his graduate work with Douglas Hill at the University of Wisconsin Madison. An active recitalist and clinician, Mr. Unsworth has appeared at many universities throughout the United States and has made solo and chamber appearances at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. In 2000, The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music named him their Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. In addition to his orchestral pursuits, he enjoys performing and composing in the jazz idiom, woodworking, and is an avid marathon runner.
Check out Mr. Unsworth's new website and solo CD at:
www.AdamUnsworth.com
Matthew Vaughn, Trombone, Euphonium
Matthew Vaughn joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in
September 1999 as Associate-Principal Trombone. He was Assistant
Principal and Acting Principal trombone of the San Antonio Symphony
from 1997 through 1999. Prior to joining the San Antonio Symphony,
Mr. Vaughn served in the United States Air Force Concert Band in Washington,
D.C., from 1993-1997. He has performed with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony
and National Symphony and has been featured as a soloist with the
Lafayette Symphony, San
Antonio Symphony, Temple University Band, the United States Air Force Band, the Indiana University
Symphony Orchestra, and the Richmond (Indiana) Symphony. Born
in Dallas and raised in Richmond, Indiana, Mr. Vaughn earned a Bachelor
of Music degree with high distinction and a Performer’s Certificate
from Indiana University in 1992, continuing with graduate work in conducting
at Indiana University and George Mason University. He taught trombone
and was a member of the faculty brass quintet at the University of Texas
at San Antonio, and currently teaches at Temple University. His
former teachers include M. Dee Stewart, Milton Stevens, and David Brumfield.
Stephen Dumaine, Tuba
Stephen Dumaine grew up in Burrilville, Rhode Island, and
during his high school years he was a member of the Greater Boston Youth
Symphony, winning a concerto competition to appear as soloist with them when he
was eighteen. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School,
and was principal tuba in Spain's Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia during the
1995-96 season. Mr. Dumaine then returned to the United States, where his
orchestral experience includes positions with the New World Symphony, the San
Antonio Symphony, and the Alabama Symphony, and substitute work with the New
York City Ballet Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. National and
international festival experience includes Tanglewood, Aspen, National Repertory
Orchestra, SHIRA Festival (Israel), and Pacific Music Festival (Japan). Mr.
Dumaine joined the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. as Principal
Tuba in 2004.
Andrew Bove, Tuba
Andrew
Bove is from Massapequa Park, New York, and now enjoys a diverse career as a
freelance musician based in New York City. As an orchestral musician, Mr. Bove
has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Symphony
Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Prometheus
Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, as well as
many others. He is also in demand as a chamber musician, and has performed and
recorded with numerous groups including the Extension Ensemble, the American
Brass Quintet, and Sequitur. He has also recorded for television, and was
recently featured by Hip-Bone music in their series of CDs and instructional DVD
for young musicians. From 1999-2002, he was the recipient of the orchestral tuba
fellowship from the Aspen Music Festival and has performed at many other
festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Center, the Music Academy of the West,
and the Pierre Monteux School. Mr. Bove is a graduate of The Juilliard School
and Northwestern University, and is currently a faculty member at Sarah Lawrence
College and Kean University.
Jon Nelson, Trumpet
Jon Nelson, trumpet with the Meridian Arts Ensemble in New York, and currently Assistant Professor of the State University of New York at Buffalo, maintains an active career as performer, producer and collaborator. He has served as principal trumpet for the Festival Aix en Provence de Musique in France under the direction of Pierre Boulez, and the Mineria Festival Orchestra in Mexico City. His arrangements have been performed and recorded by the Cologne Stadt Ballet, the Ethos Percussion Group, and Dweezil Zappa; he has recorded for Channel Classics Records, Barking Pumpkin, BMG/RCA, Bridge, Cuniform, Peer, New World Records, Vandenburg, and CRI. Mr. Nelson holds a B.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Mark Gould. He has also studied with Laurie Frink in New York, and Antoine Cure in France.
Wayne
J. du Maine, Trumpet
Wayne J. du Maine, Trumpet, currently performs with the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Brooklyn and Long Island Philharmonics, Orpheus
Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New York City Opera, New York
Big Brass, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Manhattan Brass Quintet and
with contemporary music ensembles such as Speculum Musicae, Sospeso, and ST-X
Xenakis. He has worked with a broad spectrum of artists ranging from Leonard
Bernstein and Leonard Slatkin to Hank Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Patti Lupone and
Audra MacDonald. Wayne can be heard on recordings with the New York
Philharmonic, Met Opera Orchestra, numerous commercials, motion pictures and
with Prince on his New Power Soul recording. Mr. du Maine is on the faculty of
Columbia University and the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School
where he teaches trumpet and conducts the MAP Orchestra. Wayne is also on the
conducting faculty of the Elisabeth Murrow String Camp and the Summer Arts
Institute at Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan. Wayne has performed at
music festivals in Aspen, Spoleto, Tanglewood, Vermont Mozart, Bowdoin,
Marlboro, and the Berkshire Choral Festival. He recently completed a two year
run playing and conducting Fiddler On The Roof on Broadway. He has been a member
of the pit orchestras for Titanic, Music Man and Man of La Mancha. Highlights of
recent performances include the Boys Choir of Harlem, Take 6, Martha’s Vineyard
Chamber Music Society, the Pittsburgh Collective, American Ballet Theater,
Bernadette Peters and Pink Baby Monster (rap debut!). A member of two softball
leagues in Central Park, Wayne resides in Manhattan with his wife, Sharon.
Joy
Hodges Branagan, Horn
A native of Marietta, Georgia, Joy Hodges Branagan has been
playing horn professionally since 1997, while still a student at the Manhattan
School of Music. While living in New York, Joy won positions with the Albany
Symphony and the New Haven Symphony and was an extra musician with the New
Jersey Symphony. Upon graduation in May of 1998, she won a position as Second
Horn in the San Antonio Symphony, where she played until 2003. While in San
Antonio, Joy was a member of the San Antonio Brass and was on the faculty at St.
Mary’s University, as well as being active as a performer and teacher throughout
South Texas. In 1999 she was invited to be a guest artist and lecturer at the
International Horn Workshop in Athens, GA, and was selected in 2002 to
participate in the Barry Tuckwell Seminar in Columbus, GA, hosted by the
internationally acclaimed horn soloist. In December of 2003 Joy moved to
Washington D.C. and immediately began playing with notable symphony orchestras
in the area including the Baltimore Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and the
orchestra of Baltimore Opera. In addition to an active freelance career with
groups such as Burning River Brass (Cleveland, OH), the Key West Symphony (FL),
and the Harrisburg Symphony (PA), Joy is currently Second Horn with the Richmond
Symphony. Joy received her musical training from The University of Georgia
(Bachelor of Music in Education), and the Manhattan School of Music (Master of
Music in Orchestral Performance), where she was awarded the 1998 Cecil Collins
Award for Outstanding Brass Performance. Her primary teachers were Dr. Jean
Martin-Williams of The University of Georgia and Erik Ralske of the New York
Philharmonic; and performance coaches have included Jerome Ashby of the New York
Philharmonic, Brice Andrus of the Atlanta Symphony, and Bill Ver Meulen of the
Houston Symphony.
Chris
Branagan, Trombone
Chris Branagan enjoys a diverse career as an educator, soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician. After completing an appointment in 1999 as Assistant Principal Trombone with the San Antonio Symphony, he joined the faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio and Texas Lutheran University serving as adjunct professor of trombone from 1999 to 2003. Chris currently serves as tenor trombonist with the US Army Band, Pershing’s Own, in Washington DC. Chris made his Kennedy Center debut in August of 2004, in a Millennium Stage chamber performance, and has since performed with the Kennedy Center Opera House orchestra in three productions in 2005 and 2006, including a national radio broadcast. He has won prizes in solo competitions of the International Trombone Association and the IWBC, and in 2001 was selected as one of twelve tenor trombonists from an international pool of applicants to participate in the 2001 Alessi Seminar, hosted by New York Philharmonic Principal Trombonist Joseph Alessi. He maintains an active schedule as a performer and educator throughout much of the US as an Artist/Clinician with the Edwards Instrument Co. Chris holds degrees from Texas Tech University (B.M.) and a Master of Music degree from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, on an award from Her Majesty the Queen Mother. While studying at the RSAMD, he won every solo and chamber prize available to brass musicians, including an apprenticeship position with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and a solo performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.